The Fox Within the Maelstrom
by gingafortress
Summary: He calls to the storm's might and it answers to him. Blessed with the elements of wind, water and lightning, he will use this strength to become the best ninja ever known. Uzumaki Naruto is the storm ninja of the leaf.
1. Desire to live

Hi everyone, this is my first Fan fiction ever, and its been a long time since I done any sort of story writing, so give me a chance and any sort of positive criticism wold be appreciated.

I don't own Naruto, but it would be cool if I did.

Chapter One. The Desire to Live

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"Why do you hate me so much?" the child tried to say, unheard for the screams of the angry mob that surrounded him. There was no chance of getting away even if he could. They had beaten him so badly this time. His entire body was filled with pain, they had broken his arms and legs first, so that he could not struggle as they beat the rest of his body to something that looked like road kill. Not only that but they had cut his throat so that he couldn't scream. Tears were a constant stream from his blackened eyes.

"Die demon!" screamed the man in front of him, kunai in hand poised to perform the killing blow on the young Naruto. He brought the blade down towards the helpless boy's chest. The kunai's descent seemed to slow to a crawl for Naruto. The same thoughts kept running through his head.

_"Why...why...why do they hate me?"_ Naruto closed his eyes. _"Don't kill me please!"_

"Don't kill me... don't kill...don't..."and then he heard from somewhere.

"**Show them how strong you are kit. Prove to them that you have a right to live. Show them your power**!" A strange feminine voiced rumbled and echoed within him. He opened his eyes, he watched as the kunai began to speed up towards him.

"_Stop_," he thought. "_Stop it! I don't want to die! I won't die! I won't let you kill me!"_

With this thought something welled up from deep inside Naruto. He felt it surge through his body; it felt like a storm was screaming in his veins. The ninja with the kunai stopped when he felt the chakra spike from the mangled mess at his feet. The power coming off Naruto became strong enough to the visible eye; waves of chakra began to boil off the boy. The crowd began to back away in fear, realising that it might have been very stupid to assault the demon boy, especially with the power that was pouring off the boy.

Naruto felt the power screaming for release, and so, he let it go.

The third Hokage was five blocks away on his way to aid Naruto, when he felt the release of a huge amount of chakra, halting his flight towards Naruto as he watched the explosion of light from where Naruto was being beaten. He continued to look on when he saw the lightning lance out of the clouds above and strike the ground, rapidly followed by too many strikes to count. The wind that stirred his robes became a howling gale, pushing Sarutobi back on his heels, forcing him to ground himself with chakra. Monsoon type rainfall soon followed drenching him and his escorting Anbu to the skin. What felt like forever, was in fact a few moments before the weather slackened and became still.

"Hokage-sama, what was that? It came from where the Uzumaki boy is, but it didn't feel like the fox's chakra." Questioned one of the Anbu,

"That chakra was Naruto-kun's," he replied, and with that he took off across the rooftops quickly followed by his escort.

As they came closer to their goal, the damage to the village became more severe. Suddenly the village cut off and simply disappeared. They found Naruto in the middle of a small crater, bleeding and unconscious. It was if something had simply removed the village from around Naruto for twenty meters in any direction and allowed a flood to rush through the area.

Sarutobi approached Naruto, marvelled at the sharp spires of ice that spread out from the boy. Kneeling next to him he reached out to check his pulse when a small spark jumped between them, numbing his right arm up to the elbow. Shaking his arm from the numbness his face showed his fury at the mob's treatment of Naruto. He scooped up Naruto's unconscious form and made his way to the hospital as fast as possible. He Left the Anbu to secure the area and recover any survivors of the incident.


	2. Down the Fox Hole

Naruto awoke to the sensation of floating in water.

"Wha..?" Opening his eyes he found himself in what seemed to be the biggest sewer imaginable. Much larger than the sewers of Konoha, which Naruto had used on occasion to avoid the villagers. On a good note it didn't smell as awful as the Konoha sewers; in fact the air had a clean taste to it, as if it had just been raining. Large pipes covered the walls, glowing either blue or red, they provided him with enough light to see his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he wondered, "I thought I was going to die! Or did I? If this is heaven then it sucks!"

Sighing, Naruto could see that the water was flowing and taking him somewhere, drawing him along the passageway. Splashing about he came to his feet, knee deep in the water. Grumbling, the young blond decided with nothing better to do he would follow the water's direction, and maybe find a way out.

Naruto heard a noise coming from down the passageway, seeing a point of white light ahead of him; he began to hurry though the water. He was seriously hoping that it would lead him outside. The tunnel opened out into a massive circular room, with a ceiling so high in the darkness that it couldn't be seen. In front of him was a closed metal gate that was proportional to the room, in other words huge. Each bar in the gate was as wide as Naruto was tall. It looked to Naruto that the gate was kept closed by a piece of paper with some writing that he could not understand. But what the boy was really interested in was the very loud snoring sounds coming from behind the gate in the darkness. The orphanage matron's snores couldn't compete with the volume of whatever was behind the gate. In fact it sounded like the thunder he would here in the storms Konoha would sometimes experience. What was scary to Naruto was the water that would ripple from the breathing from whatever was behind the gate; he was already having trouble from standing in the winds that pushed back and forth in time with the snoring.

Naruto began to turn and leave quietly; he really didn't want to meet whatever it was behind those bars. Naruto thought that he would end up as a snack for the monster in the dark, and he really did not want to be eaten and turned into monster crap. Barely had he taken two steps before he realised that the snoring had stopped. Naruto froze in fear breaking out in a cold sweat. He was positive that it had woken up and was looking at him. He was just about to flee as fast as his legs could carry him when all of a sudden.

"**Boo!**"

"Aaiiiiee!" screaming girlishly, Naruto jumped a good five feet in the air (impressive for a four year old) and then fell in the water getting him-self soaked. He rose from the water coughing and spluttering, floundering about to stand up. Angry, he glared at the gate pouting.

"...**MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH..." **the voice laughed, sounding as though something large was rolling around holding its sides from the site before it.

"It's not funny baka!" Naruto shouted back towards the gloom. The voice continued in its hysterical laughter.

"**HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. HAHA...ha...snort**," The voice finished laughing, and started to wheeze for breath.

Glaring at the gate Naruto watched as two crimson red orbs burst into existence.

"**Oh it was definitely funny gaki! Your looked as though you were going to soil yourself ! You screamed like a little girl. Ahh priceless gaki, you've relieved some of the boredom of this cage**."

"Oh yeah!?" Naruto yelled back, shaking his fist. "Well you snore worse than Jiji!"

Silence descended on upon them.

"I. Do. Not. Snore!" Roared the voice, flames erupting from the two orbs, that soon outlined the form of the voice. "A lady of noble stature such as mine does not snore, got that runt?"

"Whatever you say _Lady_," Snorted Naruto. "But you still snore."

Glaring at each other for a full minute, neither spoke.

"_**Surprising, he is ignoring my killing intent, small amount that it is, but still impressive for one so young. He must have become accustomed to the intent let out by that village," **_Thought the Kyuubi no kitsune. "_**His display of power before was interesting, I expected him to unconsciously call upon my chakra, but he didn't. His reserves of chakra are something someone four times his age would have. A most intriguing container for one such as myself,"**_

Preening, the fox refocused upon her container, her prison, her counterpoint and balance. Ever since the sealing, she had found the rage and hate that had consumed her, slipping away. Her thoughts were interrupted by Naruto.

"Oi, fox lady!" he shouted out. "Who the hell are you? Where am I? How do I get out of here?"

"**Show some respect to me brat!" **Kyuubi growled **"Sweet Kami, why couldn't my prison at least be more polite?"**

"Huh?" questioned Naruto.

"**Never mind brat." **She replied**. "You interest me kid, and that doesn't happen often when you're as old as me."**

Naruto looked up at the fox, dwarfed by her mere size to his little four year old frame.

"Ano, Obaa-san where am I?" asked Naruto.

"**We're in your head kid," **replied the Fox. Eyes narrowing she asked**. "What did you just call me brat?"**

"He-he, umm pretty fox lady?" Naruto laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"**Alright that's it you little brat!"** Screamed the Kyuubi in anger. Pushing her chakra through her cage she threw a yelling Naruto hurtling back down the passageway. **"That'll teach the brat to call me a granny!..Dammit I was going to talk about what will happen. Oh well he'll figure it out."**

Curling her tails about herself, The queen of foxes slipped into slumber, soon thunderous snores echoed through the chamber.


	3. Hospital Talk

Thanks for the reviews everyone.

I do not own Naruto in any possible way.

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Chapter Three: hospital talk.

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Sarutobi the third Hokage gazed out of his office window as the late afternoon sun set over the village of Konoha. He was currently debating on what to do with Naruto and the circumstances surrounding the incident during the Kyuubi festival.  
Sighing, he leant back in his chair, puffing on his pipe. The 'Storm' as everyone was calling it, was one giant headache for Sarutobi. He looked looked forlornly at the mountain of paperwork concerning the 'Storm' that had accumulated on his desk. The Hokage sighed once again. A large percentage of it was demands for Naruto's death from the majority of the village. The rest was information about the 'storm' and those involved. Thanks to the investigating Anbu, and in no small part to the questioning skills of Morino Ibiki, the Hokage had a good idea as to what had occurred.

Looking at a file the crowd had originally formed with the intent to 'punish the demon brat' for its transgressions against the village. After Naruto had eluded them for the better part of two hours, the mob's intentions had become murderous once they had caught up with the boy. After beating the boy so badly that it had made the staunchest of ninjas sick in their stomachs, a villager had stepped forth to finish him off. Naruto had then instinctually moulded enough chakra (to be visible) to cause the storm. Almost the entire mob was injured to a degree, having been blown back down the streets from the hurricane force winds, which had done considerable damage to the surrounding buildings. The villager that was going to finish Naruto off had been vaporised by a lightning strike, leaving no trace of a body behind.

The death of the villager was the major focal point for the argument to kill Naruto. The Hokage had squashed that movement hard. Never mind that he had defended himself from a full grown man when he had only just turned four years old! No, everyone ignored the facts of the incident and decided that the demon fox had begun its revenge to slaughter Konoha. Panic and paranoia gripped Konoha's hearts. Thankfully there had been no attempts on Naruto's life while he was recuperating in the hospital. People were too afraid to wind up dead at the demon's hands, even if it was injured.

The extent of Naruto's injuries had horrified the Hokage. He knew it was bad when he carried him to the hospital, some broken bones, cut throat, he had thought Naruto was lucky to still be breathing at that point. But upon learning the level of damage the boy had suffered, Surutobi had put his fist through his desk, splitting it down the middle. Looking over the medical report, his jaw clenched. Fractured skull, broken jaw, compound fractures in his arms and legs, broken ribs, punctured lung, crushed hands, internal bleeding, fractured spine, heavy bruising and multiple lacerations all over his body. At times such as this, the Hokage despaired for the village. To cause a child this much physical pain, not to mention the mental torture that Naruto had to endure caused his blood to boil. He had to restrain himself from ordering the deaths of all those involved in the assault.

What was very worrying to the Hokage was that Naruto had yet to regain consciousness, even after three weeks laying in a hospital bed, the boy had yet to even stir. The only indication of life was the steady rise of his chest. What had amazed the few med-nins that would willingly heal Naruto was the speed with which he recovered. In less than a week, all the injuries that he had sustained had healed, leaving no scarring or traces that they had even happened. Naruto was in perfect health, an advantage gained from housing the cursed fox.

The Hokage picked up another report concerning Naruto's living situation. The files said that Naruto was doing fine at the orphanage, and that there were no problems. Only now had he found out that Naruto had the worst possible care from the orphanage staff. A thin torn blanket in the damp basement was his bedroom. Spoiled rotten food was served to him, isolated from the other children and beaten for no apparent reason. The staff had thrown him out of the orphanage six months ago, forcing Naruto to fend for himself on the streets, where he suffered numerous beatings. Sarutobi had only discovered this today. He had immediately ordered the replacement of the orphanage staff, as the conditions for the other children were not much better. Sarutobi had shaken the tree of Konoha, and some rotten fruit was beginning to fall from the branches.

Looking towards the Hokage Mountain Sarutobi began to despair. Would the village ever accept Naruto, seeing him not as the fox incarnate but as himself the jailer of the fox?

"Minato, you've created such a mess for me to fix," sighed the Hokage. "My only hope is that over time at least some will come to accept him."

As the shadows on the Hokage's faces shifted as twilight deepened, it looked as if the four faces were frowning in disapproval at the Sandaime, and the village. Glancing once more at the piles of paperwork, the Hokage felt the need to escape from his duties, if only for a little while. With that he took to his feet and walked out of his office.

"I will be unavailable for the rest of the day," he told the secretary at the desk in front of his office. "Anyone that needs to see me will wait for tomorrow, understood?"

"Hai Hokage- sama," she replied respectfully. "If they should ask where you are?"

"That it's none of their concern, and that I do not wish to be disturbed unless the fourth shinobi war has begun," he said over his shoulder as he began to walk down the stairs. It was time to check on Naruto's condition personally. He was damned if he was going to keep making mistakes with Naruto's welfare. With that, Sarutobi made his way towards the hospital.

* * *

Naruto awoke with a snort.

"_That was a funny dream_," he thought, snuggling down underneath the covers. "_No more bad milk for me. It always gives me funny dreams! Just like the time I thought a giant apple was eating me_."

Realising that he was in a nice warm bed caused Naruto to jerk upright, eyes snapping open in panic. Looking around the room for any signs of trouble he squinted against the strong light in the room. It seemed as though he was all by himself.

"_How did I get here_?" wondered Naruto. "_The last thing I remember is those people hurting me. I thought they were going to kill me!_"

Naruto shuddered at this point. The villagers were always beating him. Giving him hate filled glares. He could never understand what he had done to warrant such an attitude towards himself. Tears began to form in his eyes.

"Why?" he sniffled. "Why do they hate me so much? What did I do?"

Wiping his eyes with his forearm to clear the tears, Naruto then blew his nose on the sheets. Feeling a little better from blowing his nose, Naruto looked out the window to see that it was early evening; the last light of the sun was slipping away below the forests of Konoha. Lost in thought, Naruto didn't hear the door open.

"You're awake!" exclaimed the medic.

"Gahh!" Naruto yelled as he jerked in shock, and then promptly fell out of the bed onto his backside. "Owww!"

"Are you alright?" asked the nurse, reaching out her hand to help him up. At which point two bodies flung themselves into the room through the door. The two male Anbu guards, one with a dog mask, and the other a rabbit, brandished their weapons at the female medic. Killing intent filled the air, focused on the med-nin.

"Back away from the boy now!" ordered the one with the dog mask topped with gravity defying grey hair. Taking a step forward the man raised his ninjato "I will not ask again!"

"I'm sorry! I startled him and he fell out of the bed!" the medic whimpered, face white in fear.

"Leave her alone, She was trying to help me up," Naruto told the ninja crossly. Someone was being nice to him and these people were threatening her. It was then that the adults in the room noticed the lights flickering. Quickly realising that another 'Storm' incident might be about to occur, Dog sheathed his ninjato and stepped away from the medic.

"Our apologies Uzumaki-san, we are here for your protection. When we heard you yell out we thought you might be in danger," bowing to both of them. "Apologies to you to medic-san, we will return to our posts."

Seeing that the flickering began to fade, dog and rabbit turned to leave the room, only to nearly collide with the Sandaime.

"Apologies Hokage-sama!" said rabbit, as both ninja bowed to their leader.

"What is going on here?" Sarutobi asked, eyebrow raised. "No difficulties I hope?"

"No Hokage-sama, just a misunderstanding," replied Dog. "We will be outside."

Bowing once more, the Anbu left the hospital room. The Hokage turned to the visibly shaken medic.

"Perhaps you should take a break to collect yourself young miss," Sarutobi said smiling. "I'm sure things can wait in here until later."

"Hai Hokage-sama," the med-nin said gratefully. "Thank you."

The med-nin quickly left the room, still shaking from her close brush with death. Looking at Naruto on the floor the Hokage smiled warmly, transforming Naruto's frown into a happy grin.

"Hiya Jiji!" exclaimed Naruto, scrambling over to hug the Hokage.

"Good evening Naruto-kun," he replied, ruffling Naruto's sun yellow hair. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Hai Oji-san !" he grinned. "That was so cool how those guys came through the door. Although they shouldn't have scared that lady, she was only trying to help me get up."

"They're just doing their job Naruto." Sarutobi smiled. "We wouldn't want you to get hurt now would we?"

"Nuh-uh," he replied shaking his head, Naruto frowned. "Uhh Jiji, how come I got guards?"

The Hokage sighed. He was hoping to put this off for a little while longer. Picking Naruto up, Sarutobi put him back into bed, pulling the sheets up around him. The Hokage pulled up a chair next to Naruto and sat down with a muffled groan.

"Naruto what's the last thing you remember before you woke up here?" asked the Hokage

"Ummm, well I had this weird dream about a sewer and this giant girl fox behind a gate," Naruto replied. "She snores louder than you Jiji!"

Naruto didn't notice the Hokage freeze, as if ice water had been pored over him, heart pounding and face pale.

"_Naruto came into contact with the fox?_" Thought the panicked Hokage. "_I hope he considers it just a dream_, I have to get him to think it unimportant. I_t will be something to discuss with Jiraiya when he returns to the villag_e."

"Well Naruto, I once dreamt that the paperwork from my office became alive and tried to eat me, we can dream weird thoughts sometimes," he replied give Naruto a kind smile. "No. What was the last thing you remember before that Naruto? It really is important."

At this Naruto head fell, focusing on his hands as they twisted the bed sheets. Not looking up he spoke in a whisper.

"Some people were hurting me really badly," he said as he trembled, tears falling on the sheets. "They said they were going to kill me because I deserved it, this man had a knife pointed at me Jiji. But I didn't want to die! A voice said that I should show my power; show them my will to live. I...I felt something come from inside me, it filled me up with this burning feeling and... and it felt like it wanted out, so I did, then everything got really really bright Jiji. I heard people screaming, and really loud thunder, and then I woke up here. Am I in trouble Jiji?"

The Hokage sighed at this. Naruto's childish report matched with what was reported to him. The voice worried him; if it was the fox then it showed it could talk to the boy. Perhaps in relation to the extreme stress he was under at the time, allowed the fox's voice to slip through the seal, maybe in an effort for its chakra to be used. But Naruto didn't utilise the Fox's chakra. It was his own distinctive chakra pattern that Sarutobi had felt as he rushed to his aid. The thought that Naruto had caused that much destruction by him-self was impressive. What staggered the Hokage was that he had no training and was instinctively able to access his own chakra. Of course the amount that had circulated through the boy had almost shattered his chakra coils, but thanks to the fox, Naruto was in good health.

"_The 'Storm' incident is going to cause even more problems for the boy_," He thought. "_There is no chance in hell that I'm taking him back to the orphanage. No one will foster him either. I could get him an apartment for himself, but that would not be suitable for him. Unless...yes... that could work."_

With a plan formulating in his mind, Sarutobi got an evil glint in his eyes.

"No Naruto, you're not in any trouble," he said, patting the boy's head. "You were defending yourself, and that's okay."

'Defending myself?" he asked.

"Yes it seems your chakra was released from your body protecting you, _and demolishing the city block_," Sarutobi replied. "The fact that you were able to use so much chakra at your age is nothing short of astonishing. You are very special Naruto. _More than you know_."

"Jiji, what's chakra?" He asked. "I don't know what that means."

"Well Naruto, to put it simply it' the thing that ninjas use to make their jutsus with," and with that, Sarutobi flashed through some seals, performing a quick henge to appear as Naruto.

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes round and shiny. "Can I be a ninja Jiji 'cause I got this Chika?"

"Chakra and of course Naruto," the Hokage chuckled quickly cancelled the jutsu, reappearing as himself. "But you will have to wait until you're older to join the Ninja Academy to learn all you need to know to become a ninja. But enough about that for the moment, you seem tired and I shall let you rest. I have a lot of work to finish tonight. I will see you tomorrow Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded yawning. Waving goodbye to the Hokage as the old man left the room; Naruto buried himself under the bed sheets. Soon light snores could be heard coming from the bed.

* * *

Sarutobi waved goodbye closing the room's door. Turning to the Dog his posture changed from that of a kindly old man to a leader of a ninja village.

"Report,"

"Hokage-sama," Began Dog. "After the...misunderstanding with the med-nin, I observed the lights were flickering. This occurred when the Uzumaki boy became upset. I hypothesise that at the moment his chakra is tied to his emotional state, and stress may cause another 'Storm' occurrence. I would advise chakra control lessons immediately to alleviate this problem."

"Thank-you for your thoughts Dog-kun," spoke the Hokage. "Anything else worthy of note?"

"No Hokage-sama," Spoke Rabbit. "There have been no threats concerning the boy. It has been quiet guarding him."

"That is good to hear Rabbit-kun," Sarutobi smiled. "Continue as you were men. I however must return to my office to finish some reports. I will be returning tomorrow before lunch to speak with Naruto-kun again. _And to sort out the mess I made of his life._"

With that he turned and left. The Anbu guards bowing as he went. Soon all that could be heard was the sound of snoring coming from the hospital room.

"_Tomorrow_," thought the Hokage. "_Tomorrow is the day I try and rectify my mistakes_."

A.N. Longest chapter so far. Arrgh! cramped fingers from too much typing, not used to it.


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